Ulta Beauty — Local services in Champaign

I came in to do a standard return and was immediately profiled and treated with snarky and unprofessional behavior from the cashier, Lindsey, who was working. She immediately held a standoffish air about herself and was completely rude to me from the moment I approached the counter.

With Ulta’s policies in place, items that are returned can be returned for a number of reasons, including any product that doesn’t satisfy you. It was absolutely disgusting how she felt the need to check all of my items (which has never been done by an employee before in my experience) and blatantly angle them in the light, as if to try and disprove my statement that they hadn’t been used prior to my return, after clearly stating herself that it was "okay, if they had been". This was done deliberately to embarrass and discredit me; the transaction was very prejudiced in its entirety, especially considering that these returns are likely to be discarded and written off regardless of their condition.

Not only did she feel the need to open every product to “check” that it hadn’t been used, even though I confirmed they hadn't been, but she also felt the need to be condescending and go back and forth with me concerning my payment method and how MY money would be refunded. She even went as far as saying that I couldn’t use my personal bank card to complete the transaction, and that I needed a Paypal card, then claimed that she could only offer a store credit, despite me having done this method before with another cashier in a previous transaction, at the same store, so I swiped my card anyway, disregarding her input. To make matters worse, the manager was there and did not make any effort to intervene or correct her employee's behavior. As expected, she was completely incorrect in her statements and I was able to successfully use my bank card, which was connected to the original payment method for a refund, and still this made her question me and throw in an unwanted 'two cents' saying that this is not usually something that is allowed. If that was the case my card wouldn’t have been able to go through, but it did. Maybe the employees should do more in depth research of their companies partnering with Paypal before causing discrepancies with consumers, but I digress.

I was definitely judged upon walking in the door, and definitely won’t be returning, and I’d take that into consideration if you are also a woman with melanin looking to purchase cosmetics.

Glad I got...

I feel compelled to share my recent experience at the Ulta Beauty store in Champaign, Illinois. My visit on Saturday, March 15, left such a lasting impression that I'm still processing it days later – unfortunately, not in a good way.

From the moment I stepped in, it was clear something was amiss with their customer service standards. Finding assistance was like searching for a needle in a haystack, and when I finally did locate an employee, her demeanor suggested I was interrupting something far more important than helping a customer. The situation became even more uncomfortable when one of my friends casually mentioned shopping at Dollar Tree for makeup – a comment that seemed to trigger an inexplicably condescending response from the staff member.

The disappointment continued to mount throughout my visit. As a longtime Ulta customer, I was particularly excited about the 21 Days of Beauty event, arriving ready to make significant purchases. However, I was stunned to discover there weren't any testers available for the featured products – not even for the fragrances I'd specifically driven there to sample.

The final interaction at checkout was equally disheartening. Our cashier, Jenna, seemed completely disengaged, processing my substantial purchase ($410 in products plus $100 in Ulta rewards) with an air of indifference. When I simply requested a paper bag because the plastic one was tearing, she treated my reasonable request as though it were an enormous inconvenience, practically throwing my carefully selected items into the bag.

As someone who has always enjoyed shopping at Ulta, this experience was particularly disappointing. Moving forward, I'll be making the drive to the Bourbonnais location instead. While I understand everyone can have off days, the consistent level of unprofessionalism throughout my visit was simply unacceptable for a premium...

I have shopped at this particular store for at least a few years and I've never had a bad experience until the last two days. I went into the store to return a palette that I didn't enjoy and never use but it was past the normal 60 day return date. I am a platinum member and have been for years-the first day I went in, I was told that I could not return my item as I did not have a receipt. The cashier was very helpful and I could tell that she felt badly about not being able to help me and she asked her coworker, Stacey about this situation and Stacey was so rude to me about this situation that I seriously debated never going back to this store again. I decided to call customer service to complain about Stacey because it is completely unprofessional to treat your customers rudely and was told by customer service that they would send a copy of my receipt for the item I wanted to return to the store which they did. I went back to this Ulta the very next day and the Stacey lady was still rude. My boyfriend had inventory at his job which is relatively close to Ulta and wanted to spend a little longer with our daughter and myself as he would not get to eat dinner with us like he normally does. He indicated that he needed to go to work and the Stacy lady stated, "Oh so you brought him as backup?" It was completely rude and I'm really debating about just saying, "Screw Ulta" and go...